Snow: Reverse the Rain
by Thirteenth-Spider
Summary: Orihime wanted to spend Christmas with her friends but a sudden message from her family might change everything... [Ichigo Kurosaki, Inoue Orihime]


**Snow: Reverse the Rain**

Karakura is filled with people in warm sweaters, greeting each other as they passed by as if everybody truly knew each other. Children press their faces on shop windows, deciding on which toys they're going to ask their parents for this year. Mothers are shopping for food, exchanging recipes with each other as they stand in line. Fathers are waiting excitedly for their next paycheck while praying to God that their bosses would give them an extremely generous year-end bonus. All the hustling and the bustling meant only one thing, Christmas is coming.

She steps out of the house with the same joyous gait as the wandering masses. She presses her face on the toy store window, peering at the matching teddy bears she'd buy for Tatsuki and herself. She checks the grocery to see what was on sale. (It seems like this year's feast will include her favorite choco-honey ramen.) She greets the friendly mailman, asking him for if he has a letter for her. He greets her back and hands her a message from her family before going on his merry way.

She quickly opens the envelope, expecting a little extra cash this year to make her plans of having a happy Christmas with her friends possible. Sure enough she finds more money then her usual monthly allowance tucked inside a quaint singing Christmas card. She found a train ticket as well. Wondering what that was all about, she reads on:

_Our dearest Orihime,_

_Merry Christmas! How have you been lately? We hope you're doing fine. We haven't seen you for years so we hope you can come and visit us this holiday season. We sent you a little extra money so go buy yourself something nice, ok?_

_Love..._

She closes the card and sighs. If it was any other year, she would be happy to receive such a letter. The last time she saw them was during her brother's funeral. It would have been nice if they had invited her for Christmas that year, or the year after that. But now that she knows that her brother's safe in Soul Society, now that she has friends that she can trust, now that she has plans to celebrate Christmas with them...

She'll buy a pair of teddy bears and give one to Tatsuki, dressing them in something similar to what they usually wear. Tatsuki will scoff at the idea of being given a teddy bear but will still hold it close. Orihime knows that the next time she visits Tatsuki's room that teddy bear will be sitting on Tatsuki's bed beside Manji the butt-kicking karate chimp. She will give knitted scarves out to her friends, Chizuru, Mahana, Michiru and Ryou. She'll give Ishida a new pouch where he can keep his sewing materials, remembering that sewing a quincy cross on it will make Ishida like it more. She'll give Yasutora a pair of mittens, knowing that it's hard to buy mittens for someone who's got such large hands. For Rukia she made a pink stuffed bunny similar to Chappy, hoping that she got the details right. And maybe this year she'll have the courage to give Ichigo a gift she made herself. Why now? She bites her lip, trying not to cry.

"Inoue?" She turns around to see Ichigo, who frowns when he realized that she was crying. "Inoue, are you ok?" he asks.

She nods, frantically wiping away the tears with her sleeves before smiling. He looks confused but decides not to say anything.

"Listen, my old man won't shut up about having a gigantic Christmas party to with all of his and his children's friends. I was wondering if you'd want to go." He looks down for a while to hide a blush. "I'm inviting Tatsuki over as well, and you can bring Kuneida and the others if you want so..."

"Kurosaki-kun, I..."

"But you have other plans, don't you?" He looks away, trying not to look disappointed. She hands him the card then she turns to face the street, leaning on the sidewalk railings. A simple Christmas melody starts to play as Ichigo opens it.

"My family wants me to spend Christmas with them," she says softly.

The melody stops. "That's great, isn't it?" Ichigo says in a slightly strained voice. "You probably haven't seen them for years! It would be nice if you could spend Christmas with your family every once in a while."

"But I don't want to spend Christmas with them!" she cries out. Tears start to fall uncontrollably. "I want to spend my Christmas with you!" Noticing the shock on his face she adds, "I want to spend Christmas with Tatsuki-chan! Ishida-kun! Yasutora-kun! Everybody!"

"Inoue..."

"It's true I haven't seen them for years. I don't even remember their faces anymore but I'm sure I'll recognize them when I meet them. I know families are important but I don't want to go!" she sobs. "That must make me a really lousy family member."

He sighs. "Maybe it's not my place to give you advice, but..." He lifts her chin up so that she'd see him and he'd see her. Then he puckers up his lip and scrunches up his chin. He crosses his arms and with a haughty voice he says, "As long as you're alive, you'll always have a chance to meet your family! It's when you're dead that you can't!" He puts his arms down and relaxes his face. "It was you who said that, wasn't it?"

She laughs a little, appreciating the fact that he remembers. "Don't misunderstand," he continues. "I'm not telling you not to go to your family or anything. You trusted in me when we went to Soul Society to save Rukia. We may not be in such a dire situation but, Inoue, I trust that whatever you decide would make you happy." His smile is warm yet tense. "You're not a lousy family member. You're not lousy at all."

She wipes her tears. "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she says with a bow. She smiles.

He scratches his head, embarrassed. "But if ever you change your mind, I... I mean... we're here for you. Besides, there's always next year." He puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Merry Christmas, Inoue," he greets before he leaves.

"There's always next year," she says softly. Finally deciding on what to do, she stuffs the card on her pocket and runs after Ichigo.

A lone ticket falls softly with the snow.

_(November 29, 2006)_

_(Beta: may be revised if I feel like it…)_


End file.
